:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

The European Broadcasting Union has announced what it is spinning as another interesting twist to the way the draw for the running order of the Eurovision Song Contest is organised. In a move that would strike any sane person as being monumentally ill thought out, the delegation heads from the first three countries picked will get to choose where their song appears in the final line-up, presumably ensuring the last three places are quickly snapped up. It also ensures that should the song flounder, blame can be firmly lumped onto the fall guy who decided where it should appear.The draw for the semi-final will allow the first five chosen nations to decide when they wish to sing. With a marathon show featuring 29 songs, singing late might be risky. The standard of songs chosen so far this year looks set to ensure viewers tune away in their millions long before the final sets of poorly conceived pyrotechnics light up the stage. The decision ranks high in the list of madcap ideas which have...

Tonight, the Irish national final was held. Band Dervish have performed four songs and the winner was chosen by televoting: Ireland has decided to send the song They can't stop the spring, which was written by John Waters and Tommy Moran, to Helsinki. The complete results: They can't stop the spring - written by John Waters and Tommy Moran Until we meet again - written by Malachi Cush, Pam Sheyne, Martin Sutton and Don MescallWalk with me - written by Stig Lindell The thought of you - written by Matti Kallio After Brian Kennedy’s 9th place in Athens, Dervish will be able to enter directly the final round in Helsinki. While the main business of the evening was to allow Irish television viewers to select which of the four songs will go to Helsinki, there were plenty of other special guests making the show a Eurovision special. This year's Belarus singer Dmitry Koldun performed his Eurovision entry "Work Your Magic" on the show, while Brotherhood Of Man, performed...

YLE announced the hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki. Jaana Pelkonen is a familiar face to Finnish Eurovision fans as she was the YLE on-the-spot commentator in 2005 and 2006. She was always following the contest but she says that she really fell in love with it in 2005 whe she first presented Finland's national selection with Heikki Paasonen. She has extensive TV experience. She started with a game show in 1998, then moved on to chart show Jyrki, then FarOut and Escort shows. She did radio work first 1995-1998 before moving to the small screen. Mikko Leppilampi released his debut solo album in May 2006. But it was another art form that originally made him famous all over Finland. Mikko won the Jussi Award (Finnish equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Male Leading Actor for his debut film Helmiä ja sikoja in 2003.Since then he has done 5 box office hit movies and also took part in the Hairspray musical in Helsinki last year. He was also the presenter of the TV se...

The hosts of Eurovision Song Contest 2007 have just been announced. They are Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi. Jaana is known to Eurovision fans as she is the female host of Finnish National Finals from 2005 until the present day, whilst Mikko is popular Finnish actor and singer. They will be hosting both the semi final on May 10th and the final on May 12th, as well as the dress rehearsals, a total of eight events expected to be watched by more than 300 million viewers all over the world.